IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/ariqol/v17y2022i6d10.1007_s11482-022-10079-3.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Communication or Alienation? Relationship Between Negative Life Events and Mental Health of Left-Behind Children in Rural China

Author

Listed:
  • Li Han

    (Mianyang Normal University)

  • Wenjian Xu

    (Sichuan University
    Sichuan University)

Abstract

To explore the varying mental health outcomes between two comparable left-behind children (LBC) samples, verify the mediation model of mental health via resilience, and study the intermediary function of peer attachment in this relationship, a survey was conducted based on a random sample of 1,368 LBC with the mental health test, adolescent self-rating life checklist, resilience scale and peer attachment scale. Pearson’s correlation coefficient was calculated, and regression and structural equation models were performed. Both-parents absent LBC reported significantly higher scores in negative life events and mental health—and significantly lower scores in resilience and peer attachment—than single-parent absent LBC. Resilience can function as a mediator between negative life events and mental health. Moderated mediation analyses found that negative life events have an indirect effect upon resilience, and such an effect is significantly impacted by peer attachment variables. Most pertinently, peer communication plays a major moderation role in enhancing the ability to cope with negative life events through resilience and promoting mental health in both-parents absent LBC, and the higher peer alienation the lower role in enhancing resilience on low negative life events in single-parent absent LBC. Given the reality of parental absence, Both-parents absence poses a risk to the health of LBC, that is, they are particularly likely to have long-term health problems. These findings can promote the understanding of the potential mediating mechanisms, thus further developing the theoretic system on LBC’s mental health.

Suggested Citation

  • Li Han & Wenjian Xu, 2022. "Communication or Alienation? Relationship Between Negative Life Events and Mental Health of Left-Behind Children in Rural China," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 17(6), pages 3559-3577, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:ariqol:v:17:y:2022:i:6:d:10.1007_s11482-022-10079-3
    DOI: 10.1007/s11482-022-10079-3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11482-022-10079-3
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11482-022-10079-3?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yanlin Zhou & Nancy Xiaonan Yu & Peiqi Dong & Qiong Zhang, 2021. "Dyadic Associations Between Grandparent–Child Relationship Quality and Well-Being in Chinese Left-Behind Families: Mediating Role of Resilience," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 1889-1904, April.
    2. Jia Wu & Junsen Zhang, 2017. "The Effect of Parental Absence on Child Development in Rural China," Asian Economic Policy Review, Japan Center for Economic Research, vol. 12(1), pages 117-134, January.
    3. Mingzhi Mao & Lijun Zang & Haifeng Zhang, 2020. "The Effects of Parental Absence on Children Development: Evidence from Left-Behind Children in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(18), pages 1-17, September.
    4. Haitao Liu & Kai Dou & Chengfu Yu & Yangang Nie & Xue Zheng, 2021. "The Relationship between Peer Attachment and Aggressive Behavior among Chinese Adolescents: The Mediating Effect of Regulatory Emotional Self-Efficacy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(13), pages 1-10, July.
    5. Lu, Yao, 2012. "Household migration, social support, and psychosocial health: The perspective from migrant-sending areas," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(2), pages 135-142.
    6. Wen, Ming & Su, Shaobing & Li, Xiaoming & Lin, Danhua, 2015. "Positive youth development in rural China: The role of parental migration," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 261-269.
    7. Wang, Chunchao & Zhang, Chenglei & Ni, Jinlan & Zhang, Haifeng & Zhang, Junsen, 2019. "Family migration in China: Do migrant children affect parental settlement intention?," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 416-428.
    8. Zhao, Xinyi & Fu, Fang & Zhou, Luqing, 2020. "The mediating mechanism between psychological resilience and mental health among left-behind children in China," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    9. Wu, Qiaobing & Lu, Deping & Kang, Mi, 2015. "Social capital and the mental health of children in rural China with different experiences of parental migration," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 270-277.
    10. Li, Qiang & Liu, Gordon & Zang, Wenbin, 2015. "The health of left-behind children in rural China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 367-376.
    11. Xu, Chen & Gong, Xingying & Fu, Wanyan & Xu, Yanjun & Xu, Haiyan & Chen, Wenjing & Li, Min, 2020. "The role of career adaptability and resilience in mental health problems in Chinese adolescents," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zheng, Xiaodong & Fang, Zuyi & Wang, Yajun & Fang, Xiangming, 2022. "When left-behind children become adults and parents: The long-term human capital consequences of parental absence in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    2. Bart Cockx & Jinkai Li & Erga Luo, 2023. "The Long-Term Impact of Parental Migration on the Health of Young Left-Behind Children," LIDAM Discussion Papers IRES 2023019, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).
    3. Tang, Zequn & Wang, Ning, 2021. "School disruption of children in China: The influence of parents’ rural–urban migration," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    4. Mingzhi Mao & Lijun Zang & Haifeng Zhang, 2020. "The Effects of Parental Absence on Children Development: Evidence from Left-Behind Children in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(18), pages 1-17, September.
    5. Wang, Jianxin & Yuan, Caiyun & Zhang, Qian & Houser, Daniel, 2023. "Parents’ absence harms norm obedience of girls more than boys," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 214(C), pages 17-29.
    6. Wang, Feng & Lin, Leesa & Lu, Jingjing & Cai, Jingjing & Xu, Jiayao & Zhou, Xudong, 2020. "Mental health and substance use in urban left-behind children in China: A growing problem," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    7. Babar Nawaz Abbasi & Zhimin Luo & Ali Sohail, 2023. "Effect of parental migration on the noncognitive abilities of left-behind school-going children in rural China," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-14, December.
    8. Yang, Shuai & Wang, Yan & Lu, Yuan & Zhang, Hanhan & Wang, Feng & Liu, Zhijun, 2023. "Long-term effects of the left-behind experience on health and its mechanisms: Empirical evidence from China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 338(C).
    9. Iddisah Sulemana & Louis Doabil & Ebenezer Bugri Anarfo, 2019. "International Remittances and Subjective Wellbeing in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Micro-level Study," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 40(3), pages 524-539, September.
    10. Artjoms Ivlevs & Milena Nikolova & Carol Graham, 2019. "Emigration, remittances, and the subjective well-being of those staying behind," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 32(1), pages 113-151, January.
    11. Liu, Han & Chang, Fang & Corn, Hannah & Zhang, Yi & Shi, Yaojiang, 2021. "The impact of parental migration on non-cognitive abilities of left behind children in northwestern China," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    12. Hechao Jiang & Taixiang Duan & Fang Wang, 2022. "The Effects of Parental Labor Migration on Children’s Mental Health in Rural China," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 17(5), pages 2543-2562, October.
    13. Fu, Linyun & Zhu, Yiqi, 2020. "Are rural children of work-away parents really left behind? Voices from rural teachers," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    14. Li, Xin & Sun, Xiaoyue, 2020. "Child development in rural China: Does parental migration matter?," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    15. Chunhai Gao & Endale Tadesse & Sabika Khalid, 2022. "Word of Mouth from Left-Behind Children in Rural China: Exploring Their Psychological, Academic and Physical Well-being During COVID-19," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 15(5), pages 1719-1740, October.
    16. Qiushi Zhou & Shaolingyun Guo & Hui Jing Lu, 2021. "Well-Being and Health of Children in Rural China: the Roles of Parental Absence, Economic Status, and Neighborhood Environment," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 16(5), pages 2023-2037, October.
    17. Duoduo Xu & Xiaogang Wu & Zhuoni Zhang & Jaap Dronkers, 2018. "Not a zero-sum game: Migration and child well-being in contemporary China," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 38(26), pages 691-726.
    18. Wang, Haining & Cheng, Zhiming & Zhe Wang, Ben & Chen, Yuanyuan, 2021. "Childhood left-behind experience and labour market outcomes in China," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 196-207.
    19. Lidan Lyu & Yu Chen, 2019. "Parental migration and young migrants’ wages in urban China: An exploratory analysis," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 56(10), pages 1968-1987, August.
    20. Fu, Yao & Jordan, Lucy P. & Zhou, Xiaochen & Chow, Cheng & Fang, Lue, 2023. "Longitudinal associations between parental migration and children's psychological well-being in Southeast Asia: The roles of caregivers' mental health and caregiving quality," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 320(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:ariqol:v:17:y:2022:i:6:d:10.1007_s11482-022-10079-3. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.